Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. SABI Star Mine has opened a huge market opportunity for smallholder horticulture farmers in Buhera North, handing lucrative contracts to locals for the supply of fresh produce to the mine.
The lithium mine, with a staff complement of over 1 000 employees, has been sourcing vegetables from self-financed smallholder farmers.
Last year, the mine set up community nutrition gardens to scale up projects and ensure increased supply of produce to the mine.
“The mine installed solar boreholes as a source of water to support the horticultural projects for women and youths,” mine manager Engineer Oswald Makonese said.
“With support and a ready market for the produce, we anticipate that the project will thrive and transform the lives of the local people.”
To date, Sabi Mine has drilled 26 boreholes in the community.
Of the 26 boreholes, 16 are solar-powered (12 for schools and four for community gardens) and the rest are bush pumps for the community.
To ensure the procurement of local horticultural produce, Sabi Mine has purposely unbundled large vegetable contracts to accommodate sole traders and cooperatives run by women and youths.
“We are now able to irrigate our crops throughout the year. We can now raise money to pay school fees for our children, and this project has transformed our lives,” a local farmer, Gilson Bonde, said.
Another farmer, Lessem Mungore, added: “I am supplying the mine with vegetables. I am aiming to produce some of the Chinese vegetables, potatoes as well as eggs to diversify my product range.”
The establishment of community nutrition gardens has helped reduce streambank cultivation.
The practice had been the major cause of siltation on the Save River for years.
Last year, the mine donated 30 tonnes of maize as drought relief aid to the community.
Sabi Mine also supports the elderly and people living with disability in the surrounding communities.
For community health support, the mine constructed Mukubu Clinic which was commissioned last year.
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